The Mad Monster

In writing reviews of werewolf movies I found on YouTube for the next several days, here is one on a production made by the lowest of the Poverty Row studios-PRC. George Zucco is the Mad Scientist wanting to create wolfmen so they can aid in the fight during World War II! But he also wants revenge against his former fellow colleagues at his previous institution. His patient is a mentally challenged farm hand played by Glenn Strange who would later take over the Frankenstein monster role at Universal after Boris Karloff didn't want to do it any longer. Also in tow is Zucco's daughter Anne Nagel who I just reviewed in Man Made Monster. Like in that one, she also falls for a reporter here played by a former Our Ganger from the silent era, Johnny Downs. One notable appearance is that of Mae Busch-formerly a usual Laurel & Hardy antagonist-as Susan who I think was the mother of that little girl who's fate was not good...My verdict: this movie seems to lumber its way through 77 minutes with not much of a music score, too many repetitious lines, and not much action till the end. In fact, part of me felt like sleeping while watching. So on that note, The Mad Monster is worth a look but no more than that.

"The Mad Monster" is another of the low budget little horror movies turned out by poverty row studio PRC in the early 1940s. In spite of some of the comments that I've read on this picture, I rather enjoyed it.

Basically the plot involves mad scientist Dr. Lorenzo Cameron (George Zucco) experimenting on his dim-witted assistant Petro (Glenn Strange), turning him into a werewolf. It's the old story of a scientist trying to create a super race in order to build an invincible army and you guessed it, take over the world. At the same time Cameron seeks revenge on those who had publicly humiliated him when he first presented his ideas, by turning his mad monster upon them.

Director Sam Newfield gives us an entertaining little movie. In spite of its limited budget, it provides a creepy mist filled atmosphere, as the monster stalks its victims. It also aided by the casting of Zucco and Strange as the two principal characters.

Strange plays Petro not unlike "Lenny" as played by Lon Chaney Jr. in "Of Mice and Men" (1939). He also does a creditable job as the werewolf of the piece, again not unlike Chaney in the Universal series. Zucco was PRC's resident horror actor, a sort of a poor man's Karloff, and was always excellent in these roles. Strange usually played the Chaney like parts for PRC.

The standard hero Tom Gregory (Johnny Downs) and heroine Lenora Cameron (Anna Nagle) round out the cast.

If you are a fan of the old B & W "B" horror flicks of the 40s, then I'm sure you'll like this one.

A paranoid scientist creates a wolfman by transfusing wolf blood into a meek, quiet, but very large gardener, in order to prove an hypothesis. So the gardener begins nightly rampages and the scientist tries to use him to reclaim his credentials, but is rebuffed by his former colleagues for tampering with nature. Island of Dr Moreau, Frankenstein and various wolfman films all blended together into a terribly dated, goofy, morality play.

Though the subject matter is pedantic and unoriginal at best, this film is not too poorly made, and interesting to watch as a representative of horror film making of its time. Like most mad scientist films, this is a weak warning against fooling around with Mother Nature. It doesn't have the power or intellectual challenges of Frankenstein, but it doesn't ever extend its reach anyway. The acting is passable, as is the cinematography, and the film moves along at an entertaining clip. Some of the dialog is utterly ludicrous, but hey... it's just a movie - and a B minus one at that. There are also a few nice shots of a wolf, and a smattering of humor tossed-in to prevent the film from appearing to take itself too seriously - always a plus for this genre.

This is a really cool movie and, no…I'm not joking! The Mad Monster is a pleasant and fairly original camp-film obviously trying to pick in on the Universal Monster successes. But who cares if it can't live up to the preciously wealthy production values of those films? I sure don't and especially not since it features werewolves and insane men of science which are my two top favorite horror topics! It stars the infamous B-movie legend George Zucco as the very devoted – but equally insane – scientist Dr. Cameron who got banned from the academic community because of his unethical and inhuman experiments. Cameron plots a violent vengeance on those who discredited them and with his groundbreaking new formulas he manages to turn his slightly retarded gardener into a ravenous werewolf. While his cute daughter is unaware of what happens in her father's lab, Cameron sends out his creation to devour his scientific competitors. I can't stress this enough: this film is fun! Not very scary, of course, and the werewolf-transformations & killings mostly happen off-screen. And even when they do make an attempt to use special effects or make up it looks really cheap and kitschy. So, lovers of new-age computerized gore should avoid this at all costs. Zucco is really terrific and the madness can be seen in his eyes throughout the entire film! He even holds imaginary meetings in his basement, trying to convince the world his visions are brilliant! I love this; Zucco surely ranks amongst cinema's most memorable demented doctors. Glenn Strange also was an outstanding casting choice to play the not-so-clever guinea pig. Strange looks an awful lot like Lon Chaney Jr. who made himself immortal one year before by playing …. The Wolf Man! If you're intrigued by undiscovered horror gems, werewolf horror films or just ordinary cult-amusement this is your film! Highly recommended!

As far as Mad Scientist B-movies go, this was pretty good. George Zucco steals the screen as always, playing his typical mad doctor role to perfection. A pre-Frankenstein Glenn Strange also throws in a decent performance (for this kind of movie) as the grounds-keeper turned into a Werewolf. If you're into this kind of flick like I am, this is highly recommended. Otherwise, you might as well skip it. Most of the actors suck, the story drags, and it borrows *cough*steals*cough heavily from Universal's 1941 film "The Wolf Man". Actually, I say check this out even if you don't normally enjoy this kind of film, you could be pleasantly surprised!

7/10